Monday, 6 July 2015

The Battle for Standard Falls.

Cheetor invited a group of us down to his place for a weekend of gaming down at his place. Amongst the games we played were the new Assassinorum: Execution Force from GW, Season 3 of Zombicide and Pulp Alley. Execution Force was a bit of fun but let down somewhat by being a bit too easy and only having one scenario in the game. This was also my first game of the latest Zombicide and we played a couple of the beginning scenarios. Again they were a bit too easy - the special abilities that the survivors have tipped the balance a bit too much in their favour. The main event was, as has become the norm when we all meet up, a couple of games of Pulp Alley.

I played Paul B with my Leprecians pitted against his home brew Purgators. His minis are all from Ramshackle and are very nice in the flesh so to speak. We played Hidalgo Fire, which is the first scenario in the Perilous Island campaign. We tweaked it a bit to suit our needs and so began the battle of Standard Falls.

The Leprecians led by Captain Jameson

The Purgators led by Cap'n Freeman

The forces approach Standard Falls

'Lady' Elaine, playing the part of the major plot point

Turn 1The action started quick and bloody over on my right with a Purgator and HR III shooting each other dead followed by Pig Iron, the Purgator sidekick, killing poor Orinoco, the space Womble. HR II takes out a Purgator sneaking up behind the bar and Cap'n Freeman and HR V exchange fire each taking a wound.

Mutually Assured Destruction

Death of a Womble

Another Purgator bites the dust

During all this action Captain Jameson approaches the first plot point.

Turn 2The Purgators began the second turn with a slight advantage have recovered a couple of wounds whereas the Leprecians had failed all recovery checks. Both sides were closing in on plot points so it was still evenly balanced.

Jameson and Pig Iron duke it out at the plot point

Cap'n Freeman approaches Lady Elaine and succeeds
in the challenge by drawing a 'Free Pass'

HR II falls to another lucky shot from a Purgator.
Obviously something was wrong with the firing
protocols of the HR units in this battle.

Having decided that discretion was the better part of
valour Jameson undertakes a strategic withdrawal

Turn 3 The previous turn had seen the advantage swing towards the Purgators. They now controlled Lasy Elaine (major plot point) and the Bodyguard (minor plot point) plus had troops on the remaining three minor ones. The Leprecians were finding it extremely difficult to do any damage - obviously whoever programmed the HR units had messed up their firing and defense protocols.

HR V gets caught in a blast again.

This clumsy Purgator died trying to cross the fence.
Fences have turned out to be extremely dangerous
in our games of Pulp Alley.

Another HR unit falls to accurate Purgator fire

Meanwhile the highly trained and tech savvy Anna Rchi can't
figure out how to open the toilet door

Captain Jameson dives in to grab the plot point out from
under Pig Iron's nose, but Cap'n Freeman is closing in

Turn 4

The previous turn saw a slight improvement from the Leprecians but then all hell broke loose and explosions rocked the town of Standard Falls.

The town was rocked by multiple explosions

The first took out 2 Tubes the Purgator heavy weapon specialist

The second narrowly missed HR V

The 3rd exploded between the two leaders

Bull takes matters into his own hands and successfully
claims another plot point

Cap'n Freeman and Pig Iron try to down Jameson
but he manages to escape with the plot point

Turn 5

The game was going to hinge on a couple of things in Turn 5. Could Jameson and HR V get to the available plot points and knock Bull down? It was going to be tight with no room for errors.

Getting ready for a final throw of the dice

It all goes horribly wrong for Jameson as Bull dodges and gets away

A rather smug Cap'n Freeman wanders off victoriously with Lady Elaine

We decided to call the game at that point - there was no way the Leprecians could even claim a draw. A furious, yet humbled and slightly embarrassed Captain Jameson slunk away vowing revenge on the Purgators for interfering with his plans.

Even though its often a few months between games and we are always rules rusty it only takes a turn or two of Pulp Alley to get back into the swing of things. As ever another fun game. We played a 4 player game later that evening - I'll post another report of that when I get a chance.